Gaetz’s tweet about the popular app came after the US air force shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon.
« : »US congressman Matt Gaetz wants the Biden administration to “blow up TikTok ” next. The US air force shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon on Saturday using an F-22 fighter jet. Later the same day, Gaetz tweeted: “Now blow up TikTok.” He posted a second tweet on Sunday, writing: “TikTok is a bigger threat than the Balloon.” Gaetz was likely referring to a renewed push in the right-wing to ban TikTok, the popular app owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. The initiative has roots in an August 2020 move by then-president Donald Trump to ban the app. President Joe Biden rescinded Trump’s executive order in June 2021. In December, Gaetz told Florida ABC affiliate WEAR-TV that he thinks TikTok is a “security threat.” “It is an intelligence tool for the Chinese Communist Party, and no spunky dance is worth having the Chinese Communist Party being able to exploit information from almost every American family,” Gaetz told WEAR-TV.
